The German Thomas Tuchel, England's coach, acknowledged that their Round of 16 opponent in the World Cup, Mexico, one of the hosts of the tournament, has an advantage before their match in Mexico City.
Tuchel indicated in a press conference that Mexico has an advantage in terms of adapting to the nature of the pitch and its altitude above sea level.
He added in comments reported by Fox Sports: "Yes, there was some confusion regarding the adjustment of the match time, but we do not know if the players are aware of that or not; we decided to keep this information from the team players."
Regardless of the timeline issue, Tuchel admitted that the real challenge lies in playing at the altitude of Mexico City, a factor he considers impossible to adapt to in such a short time.
He added: "We felt it even without training. I didn't sleep well as I did in previous days, but there's nothing we can't handle. The players felt it in the first minutes of training."
The coach explained that the England team decided to arrive a day early so that his players could experience the conditions before the match.
He continued: "We cannot adapt physically; that's impossible. We are here a day early to test that, not tomorrow during warm-ups."
He even admitted that Mexico usually takes advantage of this setup from the start of matches.
He added: "It's no coincidence that Mexico starts their matches strongly and aggressively, because the first 15 or 20 minutes will be the hardest for us."
He went on to address rumors of England players taking sexual enhancers to stimulate blood circulation and adapt to the altitude of the match venue: "That's not true."
Nonetheless, the coach confirmed that England studied the team led by Javier Aguirre carefully and is confident that his players will respond.
He said: "We know everything about Mexico. We analyzed their matches and know their strengths, and we will try to exploit their weaknesses with the utmost respect. We need to give our best to win against them."